Detailed Sample Task: Stage I

CLB 4 - Reading
Comprehending Information

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Real-World Task

Read a short description of cross-cultural parenting such as family roles and caregiving practices.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Vocabulary related to children, families and parenting practices.
Knowledge that different attitudes to parenting and different developmental stages of children, such as toddlers, children, teens, and young adults exist across different cultures.

Context:

Cross-cultural parenting means raising children while navigating more than one cultural system. For Newcomer families, this may include values from their home country and expectations in Canada. Parents may have different ideas about respect, independence, discipline, school, gender roles, food, religion, or family responsibilities.
Many Newcomer parents also experience changes in family dynamics as their children learn English, make friends, and adapt to Canadian culture more quickly than they do. These differences can create stress for both parents and children.
In Canada, parenting styles vary greatly among different ethnic, religious, and immigrant communities. There is no single Canadian way to raise children.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

Coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or.

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Connective words and phrases to show additions and examples.
Recognition of the main idea.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Understanding different parenting practices can help you support your children in their transition to life in Canada.

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss as a class: What are some rules or guidelines that you have for your children or that you had when you were a child? Have you noticed any differences in parenting practices in Canada to other countries in the world? What are the three most important parts of your parenting practices? What is the biggest challenge of being a parent? What advice would you give to a new parent?
Match the vocabulary words to images on flash cards. Then match the image and word to a third set of cards with a simple definition of the word. Add these new words to a vocabulary journal in a notebook or a digital document.
In small groups, sort words from the vocabulary list and other terms already known related to the topic of parenting into categories such as types of rules, approaches to parenting, challenges faced at different ages and so on. Each small group builds a word map of parenting vocabulary into categories, and then compares the word maps created with other groups and discusses how we parent at different ages.
As a class, look at a paragraph about some of the challenges of cross-cultural parenting for Newcomers. Focus first on pre-reading strategies such as looking at the title, images, and sub-headings to predict the topic and focus of the text. Next, use skimming and scanning strategies to review the entire paragraph. After reading the text aloud, work in pairs to create a two-sentence summary of the text.
Listen to three people simply describing their parenting (Can be either classmates or a recording, instructor-made if necessary). Review 1 to 2 simple sentences about each person’s parenting practices and decide if the statement is true or false.
Take turns with a partner describing three important parenting practices from your own culture. Ask your partner one question about their parenting practices. Discuss and compare your approaches to parenting.
Review simple coordinating conjunctions such as and and but to connect simple sentences. Discuss as a class why we want to use coordinating conjunctions in writing.
Look at an instructor-written paragraph about parenting support programs in Canada, which is made up of all simple sentences. Rewrite the sentences in a digital document with some of the sentences combined using coordinating conjunctions.
Listen to a short instructor-made dialogue between two classmates about the challenges of cross-cultural parenting in Canada. Answer 3-4 questions about the conversation. Using a transcript of the dialogue, practice the conversation, focusing on pronunciation and fluency.
Read an instructor-adapted paragraph about the benefits of parenting workshops. Discuss how the ideas in the paragraph are organized and all connected to the main topic of the paragraph. Underline all of the coordinating conjunctions used in the paragraph and highlight all of the subordinating conjunctions in the paragraph. Circle any vocabulary words
you find in the paragraph. Answer a set of true / false statements about the paragraph.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Read a short simple paragraph about how parenting changes as children grow into teens to find the main idea and 3-4 details.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Read a short description of cross-cultural parenting such as family roles and caregiving practices. Demonstrate understanding by answering multiple choice questions about the description.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Discussions about parenting should acknowledge that families make different choices while ensuring learners understand Canadian laws and children’s rights. A respectful, non-judgmental approach encourages meaningful learning and helps Newcomers navigate parenting in a new cultural context.
Emphasize that cross-cultural parenting is not about choosing one culture over another; it is about helping families balance safety, belonging, identity, and success in a new society.
In Canada, same-sex couples and single-parent families are legally recognized and supported. Canadian society generally supports inclusive, non-traditional family structures.

Digital Literacy Strategies:

Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.

Learners may need to:

Have keyboarding and typing skills.
Locate, navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Read information from a screen.
Scan online resources to find information.
Send and receive text messages and messages on other texting apps.
Send and receive email messages
Read formatted texts online, such as forms
Navigate and use online learning management systems (LMS) such as Avenue.
Recognize a phishing attempt of a scam message.
Evaluate online search results.
Open and read PDF attachments to email

Instructors can:

Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners.
Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
Introduce websites that are relevant to the task(s).
Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites.
Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites.
Use digital tools such as translation or pronunciation tools to support language learning and foster autonomous learning.
Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Some learners may experience changes to gender roles when they come to Canada. For some, this may be a welcome change, but for others it may be challenging. Address their concerns with sensitivity but teach that Canada is equitable and inclusive to people of all genders.
Recognize and teach learners that Canada is a diverse place and has people from many different cultures. Canadian culture includes the cultures of all people in Canada. Instructors can encourage discussion about gender roles with parenting.
Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent. Consider this diversity as you choose names for characters in stories you create as well.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma triggers:

Refugee learners may not have had a choice in leaving their countries and coming to Canada; recognize that some learners may have mixed feelings about being in Canada. Allow learners to have their own opinions and feelings about Canada.
When teaching about Canada, you may teach about things that are triggering to learners who have experienced trauma. We can’t know what the triggers might be and what seems commonplace to us may have a triggering component for learners. Be aware of this and be prepared to support learners as needed.

Strategies:

Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware that there may be learners who require support.
Learners who have experienced trauma often benefit from having routine. Create a safe and supportive classroom environment by establishing familiar routines, repeated activities, and model friendly and non-evaluative interactions.
Learners will benefit from positive relationships established in the classroom with the instructor and peers.
Learners who have experienced trauma benefit from having choices.
- Allow learners choice:
  - the choice to work on a different topic
  - the choice to share or not share their own experiences
  - the choice to work alone or to work with others
  - the choice to take care of themselves
  - the choice to step out of the learning environment
When learners have shared personal distressing or traumatic experiences, make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences. Follow the activities which may make learners feel vulnerable with routine, predictable and comforting activities.
Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.

Resources

Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:

Take a field trip to a family resource centre. These community hubs often support parents with parenting workshops, playgroups, family support programs, and so on.
Attend a Multicultural family event or playgroup to observe or participate in a community event with families from different backgrounds.
Invite an Early Childhood Educator or parenting coach as a guest speaker to speak about Canadian parenting norms, respectful ways to correct children, child development stages, and so on.
Create posters to promote positive parenting across cultures. Share the posters with another LINC class and discuss parenting tips.

Realia:

Parenting books or brochure
Authentic chore charts
Children’s books, particularly those with messages about discipline and behavior

Units and Modules:

Tutela (OCDSB): Family and Community CLB 3-4
Tutela: Healthy Communities Curriculum CLB 2-4
Tutela: CLB 3 Module – Helping an anxious child
(Not the correct level but can be adapted)
Tutela: CLB 3 Module Plan – Family and Relationships
(Not the correct level but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela: Talking about life events
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia: